America loves superheroes. They are traditional staples of summer box offices, with more remakes and reboots than one would care to count. Batman, arguably the most critically acclaimed contemporary superhero movie franchise, has mutated several times in the past few decades, including classics like Tim Burton's 1982 darkly humorous "Batman" to campy disasters like 1997's "Batman and Robin." TV's Incredible Hulk, which ran from 1978 to 1982, was remade into Ang Lee's movie "Hulk" (2003(, which suffered its own reboot in turn less than five years after its release. Despite the repetitive themes, viewers clamor for more, as evidenced by this summer's "Captain America: The First Avenger," and the new "Spiderman," with an entirely changed premise and cast from the original.
America's obsession with superheroes may stem from a need for a singular hero in the current era of cultural and economic volatility. Superheroes weather through countless personal tragedies, battles and defeats yet always bounce back resiliently, symbols of stability and steadfast vision. Though based in the imaginary, superhero films maintain specific ties to our current reality. The beginning of "Iron Man" (2008) briefly tackled conflict in the Middle East before taking on domestic corporate fat cats using the war to make a profit, and "Hulk" displayed pointed antiwar sentiments.
But the superhero mania is not limited to comic books. The public's search for a "superhero" is embodied in American politics, as various political factions each tout their own secular messiah. The 2008 Obama campaign preached a powerful message of change and hope against Bush's controversial policies and the growing polarization of party politics. On the other side of the political spectrum, current Speaker of the House John Boehner was touted during his official ascension to power as the hero to return America to fiscal conservatism the "nope" to Obama's "hope." Yet despite hyped expectations for both men from their respective party adherents, voters of all political stripes saw those facades crumble last Friday when the debate for raising America's debt ceiling degenerated into political theater, with Obama and Boehner using cable news broadcasts to shame each other, acting like children rather than two of the most powerful political figures of the free world.
When our projected "superheroes" fail us, as real people are wont to do, we turn them into scapegoats for the nation's failure. By entrusting our hopes and expectations onto others, we shrug off our own responsibility and assume the role of the helpless public. Our incessant emphasis on the power of the individual allows us to deny collective responsibility for our failures by turning our frustrations onto those of national figureheads and faceless political conglomerations. We expect political figures to swoop down to rescue us from impossibly hopeless situations through legislation, only to be disappointed when the expected help does not materialize.
Perhaps most damning of all, we as a public are unwilling to make any sacrifices to save ourselves. The rich refuse to pay additional taxes, even though corporations are making a profit while unemployment rates stagnate. Would-be retirees demand access to social security, despite the growing burden that our generation will bear. No one is willing to let go of their current perks and entitlements, forcing their respective parties to remain adamant in their positions, which further entrenches party polarization. In a perversion of John F. Kennedy's aphorism, we no longer think about what we can do for the country, but rather, what the country can do for us.
In an environment of social and economic instability, we are partially responsible for creating the current political impasse. All factions must become willing to make compromises, and force politicians to realize the same. We cannot wait for Superman, Batman or any other superhero to come to save us from "villains" of our own making. Instead, we must prove ourselves to be the heroes, not through superpowers, but through our willingness to make sacrifices for the good of the whole.
